Rupert Murdoch kicked out The Sun's editor to score a paywall goal

Rupert Murdoch doesn't have to run his choice of Sun editors past "independent national directors" when he appoints them. If he had, I'm fairly sure his selection of David Dinsmore would have met with their approval.

Aware of the low morale within the office, which Mohan has done little or nothing to raise, Dinsmore's reference to "the emotional toll" will have been well received. He also has the advantage of being unconnected to any of the allegations against The Sun (or the News of the World).

In the wake of the hacking scandal at the NoW, he was blindsided by the setting up of operation Elveden in order to investigate allegations of inappropriate payments to police based on documents provided to Scotland Yard by News International.

It led to more than 20 executives and journalists being arrested, nine of whom have since been charged.

It is true that The Sun's circulation has been falling rapidly over the past couple of years. When Mohan took over it stood at 3,128,501. Last month it was down to 2,269,278. That loss of 859,000 copies in less than four years amounts to a 27.5% fall.

Over the same period, the rival Daily Mirror has fallen by 21.4% and the Daily Star by 39.7%. Given the bad publicity suffered by The Sun, its sales performance cannot really be said to have been disastrous.

But The Sun has rarely set the news agenda under Mohan, too often looking rather tired. There has been a lack of editorial inspiration.

Though Mohan can be accused of failing to act positively in public, he has always found himself on the back foot by needing to defend the indefensible. His Leveson inquiry appearance was uninspiring, even though he got off with a light grilling.

Even so, I can't believe that Murdoch has tipped him out of the editor's chair because of that. He is much more likely to have become aware that he needed a more decisive and energetic person to oversee the paper's crucial imposition of an online paywall from 1 August.

One lure to persuade readers to pay the subscription fee is the Premier League content. So what better man to lead the charge, so to speak, than the one who helped to negotiate the deal.

The Sun has enjoyed relatively good online figures during its long period of free access. Can Dinsmore win over a bumper paying digital audience?